The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.

I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.

Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.

Every country has the government it deserves.